Thursday, May 14, 2015

Updated Rankings

If you go back and read the comments my least favorite episode, The Mountain of Youth, you'll notice that Mark asks, "Think you might do a revised ranking after reviewing all the episodes to reflect your changed perspectives?"  Well, the answer to that question from long ago is "Yes!" Below are my up to date rankings with the original ranking in parentheses, and I will update this list going forward if they ever change over time.  You'll be happy to know that The Gauntlet is still first and the aforementioned catastrophe that is The Mountain of Youth is still last.  I know that Mark will be thrilled beyond words that Eye of Osiris moved up two spots, though his joy may wear off a bit when he notices that it's still behind Hind-Sight.  But who knows, maybe over the course of a lifetime things will change -- you just never know!  After I watch and review the movies, I will add them to this list.  
  
Here are a few of the episodes that moved the most:

STOCK UP
Trumbo's World - 63 spots (From 119 to 56)
Pilot - 24 spots (from 65 to 41)
The Ten Percent Solution - 24 spots (from 72 to 48)
Black Rhino - 21 spots (from 66 to 45)
Brainwashed - 19 spots (from 33 to 14)
Faith, Hope & Charity - 19 spots (from 49 to 30)
The Madonna - 19 spots (from 69 to 50)
Gold Rush - 16 spots (from 89 to 73)
Live and Learn - 16 spots (from 97 to 81)
Tough Boys - 15 spots (From 90 to 75)

STOCK DOWN
Dalton, Jack of Spies - 38 spots (from 75 to 113)
Blood Brothers - 28 spots (from 100 to 128)
Jenny's Chance - 25 spots (from 60 to 85)
The Road Not Taken - 18 spots (from 47 to 65)
Eagles - 18 spots (from 83 to 101)
The Widowmaker - 16 spots (from 9 to 25)
Deathlock - 15 spots (from 37 to 52)
Ugly Duckling - 15 spots (from 38 to 53)

RANKINGS
  1A. The Gauntlet - opening gambit (1)
  1B. The Gauntlet - episode (1)
    2. The Prodigal (2)
    3. Mask of the Wolf (3)
    4. Ghost Ship (4)
    5. The Survivors (5)
    6. Good Knight MacGyver (1 and 2) (6)
    7. Strictly Business (8)
    8. Phoenix Under Siege (10)
    9. Log Jam (11)
  10. The Invisible Killer (15)
  11. Deadly Dreams (18)
  12. Three for the Road (16)
  13. The Outsiders (23)
  14. Brainwashed (33)
  15. The Negotiator (13)
  16. Cleo Rocks (14)
  17. Out in the Cold (7)
  18. The Endangered (12)
  19. Obsessed (17)
  20. Murderers' Sky (26)
  21. Lesson in Evil (19)
  22. The Battle of Tommy Giordano (21)
  23. The Visitor (25)
  24. The 'Hood (24)
  25. The Widowmaker (9)
  26. Partners (22)
  27. Cease Fire (27)
  28. Blow Out (28)
  29. Jack in the Box (30)
  30. Faith, Hope & Charity (49)
  31. Pirates (20)
  32. Early Retirement (29)
  33. Rock the Cradle (31)
  34. Bushmaster (32)
  35. Thief of Budapest (34)
  36. The Golden Triangle (35)
  37. Last Stand (36)
  38. Walking Dead (43)
  39. Slow Death (51)
  40. Silent World (39)
  41. Pilot (65)
  42. The Spoilers (41)
  43. Birth Day (42)
  44. Bitter Harvest (44)
  45. Black Rhino (66)
  46. Easy Target (40)
  47. Passages (58)
  48. The Ten Percent Solution (72)
  49. The Stringer (57)
  50. The Madonna (69)
  51. The Assassin (54)
  52. Deathlock (37)
  53. Ugly Duckling (38)
  54. The Black Corsage (45)
  55. GX-1 (46)
  56. Trumbo's World (119)
  57. Halloween Knights (48)
  58. The Heist (52)
  59. The Wall (53)
  60. Squeeze Play (67)
  61. The Coltons (55)
  62. Family Matter (56)
  63. DOA MacGyver (50)
  64. Deep Cover (61)
        Trail to Doomsday
  65. The Road Not Taken (47)
  66. Target MacGyver (62)
  67. Blind Faith (59)
  68. Countdown (63)
  69. Lost Love (64)
  70. Ma Dalton (68)
  71. The Odd Triple (70)
  72. Nightmares (71)
  73. Gold Rush (89)
  74. Runners (74)
  75. Tough Boys (90)
  76. Jack of Lies (82)
  77. Every Time She Smiles (86)
  78. The Enemy Within (76)
  79. Fraternity of Thieves (78)
  80. Collision Course (80)
  81. Live and Learn (97)
  82. Rush to Judgement (92)
  83. Soft Touch (77)
  84. Legend of the Holy Rose (1 and 2) (81)
  85. Jenny's Chance (60)
  86. Children of Light (73)
  87. Unfinished Business (79)
  88. Jerico Games (84)
  89. The Wasteland (85)
  90. Fire and Ice (87)
  91. Split Decision (88)
  92. The Gun (91)
  93. Trail of Tears (93)
  94. Off The Wall (98)
  95. Humanity (94)
  96. Serenity (95)
  97. The Human Factor (96)
  98. The Prometheus Syndrome (99)
  99. Twice Stung (101)
100. High Control (102)
101. Eagles (83)
102. Hell Week (104)
103. For Love or Money (106)
104. The Treasure of Manco (107)
105. The Eraser (110)
106. Renegade (105)
        Lost Treasure of Atlantis
107. Gunz 'N Boys (108)
108. Friends (103)
109. Thin Ice (115)
110. The Wish Child (111)
111. To Be A Man (112)
112. MacGyver's Women (113)
116. Hind-Sight (117)
117. Harry's Will (120)
118. Back From The Dead (109)
119. Eye of Osiris (121)
120. Hearts of Steel (116)
121. Flame's End (122)
122. The Escape (123)
124. Deadly Silents (126)
125. Second Chance (127)
126. Final Approach (129)
127. Hellfire (130)
128. Blood Brothers (100)
129. Two Times Trouble (124)
131. Twenty Questions (132)
132. Kill Zone (133)
133. The Challenge (131)
134. The Lost Amadeus (134)
135. Honest Abe (135)
136. The Mountain of Youth (136)

14 comments:

  1. Your changes ended up being a lot more substantial than I expected. I figured you'd switcheroo a couple of dozen episodes. Most of the episodes with the biggest variations I saw coming. Several of them like "Trumbo's World", "Brainwashed", and "The Madonna" you said you were gonna rate higher while others like "Dalton, Jack of Spies", "Jenny's Chance" (boo) and (booo!) "Blood Brothers" you said you were gonna rate lower. Even some of the ones you didn't specifically say you were gonna rate differently seemed like they might go one way or the other based on your revised impressions from the reviews. No surprise, for instance, that "Faith, Hope, and Charity" went up while "Eagles" and "Deathlock" went down.

    There were some head-scratchers though. Didn't see the big jump for "Live and Learn" coming nor the wipeout for "The Road Not Taken". And I thought for sure based on your review that you'd seen the light on "The Assassin"....instead you've rated it five positions worse! Sorry to go PG-13 on you but WTF?!??! :) And the collapse of "Lesson in Evil" behind "The Battle of Tommy Giordano" (!!!) was something you specifically said the opposite of in your review. Plus, we no longer have an episode we've rated the same now that you've bumped that up 10 points. :)
    Also perplexing to me that the not-even-trying clip shows didn't collapse in your reranking.

    Overall, it looks like you've at least boosted season 5 episodes enough to where it doesn't come out as your worst season anymore. I'll calculate your revised numbers regarding season-to-season averages next to my own when I do my guest post...probably this weekend. Looks like another poster already did the calculations based on your old numbers but I'm eager to see how much they changed.

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    1. Looks like I stirred you up a bit! But you raise some good points, and I'm glad I have you to double check me. I just looked back at The Assassin and you're right, I did have good things to say about that one. And you're also right about what I said regarding Lesson in Evil, and I will adjust those rankings accordingly. I will admit to doing this somewhat hastily in that I didn't reread every ranking that I had done, and so it's likely that in some cases I forgot what I wrote. Over the next few days I will take some time and go back and make some adjustments if necessary.

      My thought on the clip shows is that even though they're weaker content wise, at least they don't have much if anything for me to actively dislike. And I haven't checked all the episodes but I know we have at least one that is the same (#7 - Strictly Business).

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    2. Meant to say "bumped up "The Outsiders" 10 points so we're no longer matching on that one. However, I see we are matching now on "Strictly Business".

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    3. Well I take my "MacGyver" episodes pretty seriously so I have to plead guilty to be a little stirred up. :) It's obviously your rankings though it's your call.....and you made at least as many correct calls to compensate for the questionable ones!

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    4. Even after I've watched all the episodes recently, it doesn't make the rankings much easier for me to do. If you took the episodes from 80 to 100, let's say, and mixed them up and told me to rerank them, it would probably come out totally different, so in some ways it feels a little random. But at least I can feel good about the general quadrant that they are in.

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    5. I figured you'd especially appreciate the Brainwashed boost to a lofty perch at #14!

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    6. I did appreciate that big leap "Brainwashed" took....until I realize it knocked "Cleo" down a couple of pegs. I figured you'd give "Brainwashed' a good nudge but also suspected your rankings were carved in stone enough to where an episode bouncing from #33 to #14 wasn't an option!

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    7. Although I'd seen these episodes many times as a kid, in some cases it had been 7-8 years since I had seen them and there was definitely a lot of scenes/moments that I was fuzzy on or flat out didn't remember, so it doesn't surprise me that I'd be way off on some episodes. And just the process of growing and changing as a person in that time leads to new perspectives and things hitting me differently than I remembered. And funny how I can't even remember what I wrote about some of these episodes a few months ago!

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    8. I get that. I've mentioned before that time has changed my perspective substantially on a good three dozen episodes. The biggest risers since my boyhood are "The Escape" and "Two Times Trouble" while the biggest decliner was "Soft Touch".

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    9. Really glad that you've seen the light on the 'Trumbo's World' ranking and that the 'Pilot' has moved up considerably but disappointed that 'Widowmaker' and 'Eagles' have taken a tumble! I agree that its very difficult to adhere to permanent rankings - just about every time I watch an episode I'm inclined to re-rank it.

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    10. And I just noticed "The Challenge" is now lower than "Kill Zone". Ouch!

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    11. Looked at another way, you could celebrate the fact that Kill Zone is moving on up!

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  2. Oh this is exciting! You moved the invisible killer into your top ten I'll have to celebrate that one. I too am glad you moved trumbos world and brainwashed up significantly. Baffled you moved back the widow maker so much - it's outdoorsy, murdoch, action, what gives? Oh well, I have to give you a lot of credit for going through this ranking. Seems like a grueling task! I can do a top 25 or 30. After that I just can't rank them with much specificity.

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    1. Thanks Robert! It is a bit grueling but in a fun way. I'm not sure what happened to the Widowmaker - maybe next time I watch it it will go back up!

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